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As sex abuse cases against the Boy Scouts of America continue, attorneys in South Carolina are handling many of the national claims in bankruptcy court, Live5News.com reported. There is now a Nov. 16 deadline looming for the thousands of men who claim they were molested by scout leaders. Motley Rice in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is handling the lead negotiation for the victims in bankruptcy court. "Unfortunately, this sexual abuse has gone on for many, many years. Hidden from the public. And it put the Boy Scouts of America in a position where they had to file bankruptcy,” said Kevin Dean, an attorney with Motley Rice. “[Survivors of BSA abuse] have until November the 16th to file a claim in bankruptcy court. It’s not a lawsuit... It’s simply a bankruptcy claim. There could be anywhere from 50 to 100,000 potential claims.”

The court-appointed trustee representing the former Southern Vermont College in bankruptcy proceedings says an agreement to purchase the campus by a summer camp operator was never completed, the Associated Press reported. According to court filings, Moshe Perlstein, the operator of camps for youths from the New York City area, made an offer in June and entered into an agreement with trustees of the former college to purchase the campus, the Bennington Banner reported. He and the trustees agreed to an occupancy deal allowing summer camps on the campus. But both agreements were to expire by late September and have not been renewed, the newspaper reported. Raymond Obuchowski, the court-appointed trustee, told the Banner that he had a specific timeframe to decide on the $3.15 million offer, which was not accepted.

The federal government’s proposed settlement with the Sackler family members who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP ran into opposition from company creditors worried that less money will be left over for them, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. An official committee that represents Purdue’s creditors raised objections to the proposed settlement in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., where Purdue sought chapter 11 protection last year under an onslaught of lawsuits accusing the company of helping fuel opioid addiction. Carrying out the settlement requires approval from the bankruptcy court. Action in the bankruptcy case involves both mediation and an investigation by the official creditors committee into the company’s owners and their vast wealth. Members of the Sackler family who served on Purdue’s board and were sued along with the company are, like Purdue itself, shielded against lawsuits while they try to come to terms with states, municipalities, Native American authorities and other creditors. Without filing for bankruptcy, the billionaire Sacklers are sharing the company’s legal shield temporarily, and hope to negotiate a permanent reprieve from lawsuits as part of Purdue’s bankruptcy plan.

Nick Bovis, the San Francisco restaurateur who was one of the first co-conspirators named in a federal indictment earlier this year stemming from an FBI probe of corruption in SF City Hall, has now filed for bankruptcy for one of this businesses, longtime hofbrau Lefty O'Doul's, SFist.com reported. The given reason for the chapter 7 bankruptcy filing for the sports bar/hofbrau more recently known as Lefty's Baseball Buffet & Cafe is the current city health ordinance "prohibiting self-serve and buffet-style service in restaurants," which has forced Lefty's to remain closed. But the place actually closed before the start of the pandemic sheltering orders, reportedly due to damage from a burst water pipe. Bovis had allegedly stopped paying rent on the space months before the federal indictment dropped, going back to November 2019 — incidentally about the same time that Bovis shuttered his other nearby business, the Gold Dust Lounge. Both bars used to reside in separate spaces owned by the same landlords, the Handlery family.

The coronavirus recession tipped dozens of troubled companies into bankruptcy, setting off a rush of store closures, furloughs and layoffs. But several major brands, including Hertz Global, J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus, doled out millions in executive bonuses just before filing for chapter 11 protection, according to a Washington Post analysis of regulatory filings and court documents. Since the pandemic took hold in March, at least 18 large companies have rewarded executives with six- and seven-figure payouts before asking bankruptcy courts to shield them from landlords, suppliers and other creditors while they restructured, the Post review found. They collectively meted out more than $135 million, documents show, while listing $79 billion in debts. Labor experts and bankruptcy attorneys say that the payouts are particularly egregious — and unjustifiable — during an economic crisis, and were timed to bypass a 2005 law passed specifically to prevent executives from prospering while their companies failed. Many companies have homed in on retention to justify bonuses because they cannot be attached to traditional motivators such as sales targets or stock valuations during bankruptcy. Experts said retaining executives — even those who may have overseen a company’s decline — is often seen as a way to maintain consistency and raise the chances that the company will successfully emerge from bankruptcy. The rise of pre-bankruptcy bonuses corresponds with the passage of 2005 legislation meant to stamp out such payouts during reorganization, attorneys say. The Post’s review found that companies typically awarded bonuses within weeks — or days in several cases — of filing for chapter 11 protection. “It’s become a standard solution: Pay the bonus before bankruptcy, so bankruptcy law doesn’t apply,” said Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor whose work focuses on bankruptcy and financial regulation.

A lawyer for J.C. Penney Co.’s top lenders accused a rival creditor group of “economic terrorism” during a court hearing on the escalating battle between hedge funds seeking bigger shares of the beleaguered department-store chain, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Andrew Leblanc, who represents the company’s top lenders, said a competing group of investors including Aurelius Capital Management LP was trying to tie up a planned sale of the company’s retail assets “so they can extract a premium.” Aurelius, Carlson Capital LP and other dissenters are challenging Penney’s preferred path out of bankruptcy, which is backed by top lenders and involves placing the retail operations and most of the company’s stores in the hands of mall owners Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield Property Partners LP. Under the restructuring proposal, the remaining stores and distribution centers would be transferred to top lenders including H/2 Capital Partners LLC, Sculptor Capital Management Inc. and Brigade Capital Management LP in exchange for $1 billion in debt forgiveness. At a hearing held via videoconference in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, a judge authorized Penney to begin soliciting votes from creditors on the proposed restructuring, but not before pointed exchanges between lawyers for the two investor groups. The objecting group, which holds a minority of Penney’s first-priority loans, has said the credit bid is artificially low and designed to overpay the deal participants while siphoning value from the rest of Penney’s creditors.

PG&E Corp. scored a victory on Friday as a judge ruled against hedge funds that said California’s largest utility had unfairly shut them out of a lucrative stock deal on its way out of bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., a big investor in PG&E’s debt, led a group of bondholders in the failed effort to collect $250 million in damages from the utility for allegedly failing to honor its agreement with them. Big investors that helped PG&E raise money in the stock market were rewarded with fees and shares in the company. Elliott and other bondholders said that they didn’t get a chance to participate, even though PG&E had promised it would use best efforts to get them a piece of the stock sale action. PG&E pointed to releases in its chapter 11 plan that it said had cut off the bondholders’ right to sue. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali ruled that bondholders lost their right to complain when PG&E’s chapter 11 plan took effect, and broad releases shielded the company. PG&E exited bankruptcy in time to meet a June deadline to participate in California’s new statewide wildfire protection fund for utilities.

California taxpayers were left responsible for a dangerously contaminated plant outside Los Angeles after a federal judge turned down an emergency bid by state environmental regulators to block Exide Technologies LLC from exiting bankruptcy, the WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Yesterday’s court ruling rejected a last-ditch effort from California, which has been hammering Exide for years over a polluted battery-recycling facility in Vernon, near Los Angeles, that authorities view as a risk to the surrounding community. Once a cheap source of lead for Exide’s battery business, the plant left a toxic legacy for the largely working-class residents nearby. California taxpayers are now being stuck with the Vernon facility, which closed down in 2015. It remains an imminent danger to a densely populated residential area nearby, according to the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. State authorities have said it will cost $72 million to prevent contaminated dust in Vernon from blowing into residential areas, dwarfing the money Exide is leaving behind for cleanup, which amounts to $2.6 million from a court-approved bankruptcy plan plus $26 million in surety bonds and cash that Exide agreed years ago to set aside.